the latest news on the week's top stories international journalists including an l c news crew come under rebel fire while covering the conflict in syria. which the rescue president obama signs a stop gap looking to raise taxes for the wealthy as part of the deal to avoid blunder not the fiscal cliff. also new documents show the f.b.i. knew about a plot to assassinate the leaders of the occupy wall street movement but didn't to warn us citizens of the threat to their lives. and an icon of french cinema and a new russian citizen drop dead but here on the street is adopted homeland after

fleeing france other plans for a super tux on the super bridge. the latest news on the week's top stories this is the weekly here on aussie with me thanks for joining us as the syrian conflict a sore renewed violence in the first week of the new year it also led to more casualties among journalists covering the crisis one syrian correspondent was reportedly killed and a reporter for all she's arabic channel was among a number of media work is injured when his crew came under rebel sniper fire outside damascus live now to. those in the region let's say good morning so what exactly happened to our news crew. well the year has just

started but syria's very poor record of handling international journalists covering the conflict isn't looking to get any better so far because this week earlier reportedly governmental journalist a syrian journalist was killed in the country he was wounded on she was then later died in a hospital in the same group also several journalists were severely wounded and my colleague from r.t. arabic such was among a group of journalists who were injured who were targeted in the crossfire when they were covering movement of a governmental convoy through the country. i mean it says that they were shot at by the syrian rebels despite a wearing garment some special jacket with the words pressed on them and here are his recollections of how it happened we were moving from street to street and when we reached the doctor my colleagues and i got caught in crossfire we tried

to escape running one after another fearing that armed rebels would notice us a syrian army soldier accompanied us the entire time the rebels were firing on us my colleagues and i were wearing bulletproof vests with the word cross on them the firing was very intense and it was difficult to find shelter i ran and fell down the room many other correspondents there with me including iranians and syrians one of the syrian cameraman was also slightly wounded like me. well couldn't say whether he and his colleagues were deliberately targeted by the syrian rebels but clearly some organizations are very much concerned with how the rebels have been handling journalists in the country especially the reporters without borders which issued a report last year saying that the rebels were particularly bad in terms of handling journalists and they were attacking them deliberately they are few but the same pretty much goes for the pro-government forces whose shelling and of hillary

strikes led to many deaths among journalists last year fifty journalists international journalists and local and domestic journalists were killed in syria raising very serious concerns about how journalists would operate in this country and definitely working in a conflict zone for journalists is always a great risk but it looks in the syrian case this goes beyond any possible extremes . cheese and extinct life from tel aviv and it's a many thanks indeed and middle east expert pepper escobar believes a willingness to end the syrian conflict must also come from outside the country very sad to say to everybody all over the world that the top geopolitical tragedy of two thousand and thirteen is going to be the top geopolitical tragedy of two thousand and eleven the rape of syria the only possibility would be that the opposition. in

a syrian way decides not to listen to the saudis the turks the qataris the americans the brits and the french and they sit down with the assad government and they work out a transitional government or at least a from vishal period leading to free and fair elections is this going to happen not likely. troubles bring once again in bahrain as police crackdown on a pretty democracy volley with flashlights not hearing at city again only just a few minutes. trying on promises human rights groups crying foul of america's defiance which allows suspects to be detained indefinitely and keeps the gun time of a prison open. barack obama has given the green light to a new increasing taxes on wealthy americans in

a move to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff it follows months of political bickering among us to make this right up until january the first deadline and option could have meant billions of dollars of tax hikes and spending cuts which were due to automatically come in to fact economics expert says that although an immediate crisis has been avoided the main underlying problems remain unresolved the fiscal cliff is just more theater bankers and politicians trying to distract people from the underlying root catastrophe that is a bunch of girls and frankly who are manipulating the system day in and day out the strong the economy the fiscal cliff more bro more theater it doesn't really focus on the true underlying problems that we're going to see more of this going forward in two thousand and thirteen anything to the tension from the mobs with their pitch forks and their torches were coming out for these people they want to just delay that day of reckoning for as many months as they can but the day of reckoning. it's

comic. from the old economic twenty first scene was to kaiser report whole program . it's been revealed that the f.b.i. knew of applause to assassinate occupy wall street leaders but didn't lead them to the potential danger the bureau was and start spying on members of the movement branding them criminals and domestic terrorists in a port and i has the details for us. well it's not clear yet why the f.b.i. would neglect to tell activists that there was a potential assassination plot surrounding them what we do know is that new documents obtained by the partnership for the civil justice fund a u.s. human human and civil rights advocacy organization have revealed that the u.s. the f.b.i. the department of homeland security the u.s.

military and private corporations all cooperated together to monitor and investigate opic occupy wall street protesters as quote domestic terrorists and quote criminals now the more shocking revelation the headline of this story is that reportedly buried deep within the government. mentions of a plan to use snipers to assassinate occupy protesters in the movement's leaders in various cities throughout the country these alleged plans were supposed to be taking place in the fall of two thousand and eleven know the names of the groups or individuals involved in the alleged plot are redacted from the f.b.i. documents but what critics say is clear is that the f.b.i. never alerted anyone of the potential any of the potential victims that their lives could possibly be in danger or that there's any threat surrounding them partnership for civil justice fund received the f.b.i. documents on december twenty second so this is fairly new information and this was

after they filed a request under the freedom of information after now many civil rights attorneys previously have accused the f.b.i. of functioning as a de facto intelligence arm for u.s. corporations during the occupy wall street movement and especially as it grew bigger however some critics say they never ever suspected that the f.b.i. would neglect to tell occupy protesters u.s. citizens about an assassination plot surrounding them and of course we'll have plenty of you on line no claridge diplomatic figures from boston to cyprus get this all slap happy was secure as have the airport details and they don't stop at all to you don. and prison guards in brazil has busted accounts trying to smuggle in a special cat which could have helped invade engineer a breakout star it came within a whisker of getting away with it find out of the website if it's feline guilty.

new russian citizen to show roundup of heroes on a trip to his adopted homeland where he's received a passport from president to praise him personally the french movie icon has been granted citizenship after he turned his back on his native france in a row over been tonks to the max his medical show has the details parting caesar as a preview is on a personal treat to so much eat french actor who has not read the russian president vladimir putin meanwhile gerard to preview has already been granted russian citizenship and before that he remembers his french citizenship in moved to belgium where we pointedly he has some real estate now this news comes as french president

francois juan is trying to push forward a law that will see french citizens who earn more than one million euro piece seventy five percent of their earnings to traps this meanwhile in other french legendary movie i can brigid bordeaux is also think of following the footsteps of gerard depardieu however rather move is backed by a completely different reason no she's also a veteran anymore rights campaigner and she has a gratin to apply for russian citizenship if french authorities you for nice peer office make alice bones at a zoo in your home. then tell me back with more news for you after the shock right .

he survived war atrocities. to make a final decision. has changed his life and the world around them. by giving us. hope. and love to so many children. nikolai the miracle worker on our team.

and end of innocence and period and if they they were grouped from different countries foreign countries like pakistan and jordan and syria and yesterday in the village where i live and six of us it was tear gas excessively by security forces and i could see security forces running down the streets by my white house and shooting grandly inside their houses it movement was completely peace said but after witnessing the west that was during and position to or this the situation and behaving or there have been emotion in bahrain it is unlike to what is what they are it claiming like they are encouraging human rights in different countries arab countries but when it comes to bahrain they use double standards so the protesters

here inviting old though they are those radical protestors they are the minority and not the majority but such methods to prevent them violent security forces from entering their their it their religious and attacking on armed civilians and children like we witnessed and the video off of the four year old child being attacked by security forces with tear gas canisters. still ahead for you in the program but as well as long time leader travis may be ill after cancer surgery at the time he's owed you know curation as the opposition demands a new election if he doesn't show up. she also looks at the legacy of the twenty twelve that could have been if things had turned out differently and explore some of the challenges the world my face in the coming months. this week a little was roberts allowing the u.s.

military to detain terror suspects indefinitely including americans without charge or trial the national defense authorization act also extends the restrictions on transferring detainees out of gun time to mosul and i think in the trunk congressman dennis kucinich things the move is part of a pattern that undermines democracy right now we're much more of a garrison. plus. a powerful military which keeps asserting itself globally and it doesn't make america any safer and frankly doesn't make the world safer was trending upwards of six hundred billion dollars for an expanded pentagon presence for more war in afghanistan and for proliferation of war in in yemen and somalia and other places we have a lot of problems here at home that we're not taking care of we have massive unemployment people are losing their homes people are losing their retirement security and i continue to say that we have to start emphasizing taking care of

things here at home instead of developing a bigger footprint around the world as far as our military presence and another recent to move viewed by critics is on to democratic obama extended an ox that allows for the wiretapping of americans without a warrant a u.s. national security agency whistleblower says nobody is safe from being spied on and watch the full interview with william binney later today but here's a quick preview. b.-i has access to the data collected which is basically the emails of virtually everybody in the country. and they have at the f.b.i. has access to it all the congressional members are on on the surveillance too it's not no one's excluded they're all included so yes this can happen to to anyone if they become a target for whatever reason. if they are targeted by the government the government can go in with the f.b.i. or other agencies of the government can go into their database pull all that they've collected over them on them over the years and reanalyze it also

retroactively analyze everything they've done over the last ten years at least working one part i'm sure i i i believe i've been on it for quite a few years yeah so i keep telling them everything i think of them in my e-mail so that they when they read it they'll understand what i think of them. but as well as president chaffetz has currently battling cancer that may be too ill to attend his own swearing in ceremony on thursday his political rivals are demanding and yet election if he doesn't child up today no you're right it's for his fourth term in office japanese call analyst eric draitser brings the opposition is taking advantage of the situation to undermine the government. what is important is the fact that the opposition is using this as a political mechanism by which they can try to deal

a jew demise the government in venezuela remember that in two thousand and two when the united states and spain and other powers around the world collaborated and conspired to oust chavez in an illegal coup and we saw what the significance of chavez was that he had a base of support on the streets in that country that could not be shaken by an international force and so what they're attempting to do is to use his health situation to break apart that base of support and to convince people that chavez is unable to serve the the constitution in venezuela allows for wiggle room here it does not say that just because he can't be at the inauguration at that given moment that there has to be new elections that is what the opposition is trying to create something that is not explicit they're trying to make it explicit the constitution it says that it can be delayed there are alternative arrangements that can be made the swearing in can take place in a different location and also it says that the new elections can only be called if

and only if the elected president is permanently unable to serve there is no indication that chavez won't recover from where he is now so to say that he's permanently incapacitated is not one hundred percent true. and some other international news stories in brief a standoff between police and gunmen in the u.s. state of rado has claimed four lives including the gunman that tarka allegedly shot three of his hostages dead before the barricaded house was stalled by law enforcement units one count of managed to escape it happened in or wrong which last year saw twelve people killed and dozens injured in a cinema shooting during a movie premiere. by the suspects in the rape and murder of a female student in new delhi have been linked to the victim by d.n.a. evidence the man was charged earlier this week while a six will stand trial as a juvenile the twenty three year old woman was brutally assaulted on a bus and later died in hospital for her injuries that talks park nationwide

outrage and fuel debate about sex crimes in india. around a hundred british loyalists in the northern irish comfortable fast have attacked police officers who are tolerated with water cannon also it is also investigating reports of shots fired during the clash the previous night so nine officers injured in several riots that broke out across the city loyalist anger was sparked by a move to and a century old tradition of flying the british union flag over city hall permanently throughout the year it. has been a week of new year's celebrations around the globe with fireworks and cheering crowds greeting twenty of thirteen there were mixed emotions regarding the year that's passed well some sad to see it end but many more hopeful of better times is this a governor takes a clue at the world that could be. twenty twelve was certainly full of disappointing headlines hope fueled by the arab spring

turned into the turmoil of the arab autumn the war in syria claimed countless lives and the fiscal crisis all the european union torn apart at its very seams and the problems facing our world today certainly don't offer themselves up to an easy fix what if things had turned out differently what if opportunities were actually seized upon instead of missed well here's our look at the twenty twelve headlines that could have been. diplomacy succeeds in syria ending bloody conflict. instead this was the image of syria the world saw increasingly violent clashes between government forces and the opposition had claimed more than forty. efforts to negotiate a diplomatic solution fell flat because divisions ripped apart both the country and the international community hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled to neighboring states where many have found conditions to be dismal meanwhile syria's

war is threatening to spill over its borders as tensions escalate within and in the region. slash does iran's nuclear to accept. gunning to end gun violence the us rules to restrict firearms mideast peace israelis to stay packed with palestine. yet this was their reality israel's assault on palestinian militants in gaza israel's anti-missile shield repelled the most attacks on its territory but a strike claimed the lives of more than one hundred sixty palestinians many of them civilians despite harsh condemnation from many in the international community the war and israel's subsequent decision to construct three thousand new settlements effectively slammed the door shut to any prospects of peace go through people power moment you step aside and let a democracy in. get lost get most notorious kuantan of my prison permanently shot.

euro zone cuts the cuts and lifts austerity. but the news of austerity only tightened as deep public sector cuts brought thousands of angry demonstrators to the streets of greece spain italy and portugal. the worst economic crisis of a generation has battered the european union's very foundations exacerbating tensions between member states with some regions now desperately wanting out more grew up in a europe that was divided from east to west. to europe it is divided from both to self never at any point of the history of this union has there been more discord of rancor that we cover to go corporate cash for the campaign coffers as part of the us political please. know we here for u.k. british quit european union. we found a jury on the soldier appointed u.n. free speech and. instead a song remains a political refugee at ecuador's london embassy where he's been granted asylum he

continues to fight extradition to sweden over alleged sex crimes charges that he says are. clee motivated and tied to his work in leaking international government secrets. the power of people speaking up and resisting together terrifies corrupt democratic power so much so that ordinary people here in the west and the enemy of governments an enemy to be watched and enemy to be controlled and to be impoverished true democracy is not the white house true democracy is not camera true democracy is the resistance of people with the truth against lies from right here in london everyday ordinary people teach us that democracy is free speech and dissent. from heretics to hero american whistleblower bradley manning finally free. droning

on minimal nations agree to end iraq of remote controlled war. egypt's arab spring sees democracy defeated hardline islam is. the reality on the ground was anything but injection president mohamed morsi is foul like power grab unleashed theories and frenzied street battles and a fast track to constitutional overhaul referendum left a bitter opposition eager for change for them two thousand and twelve saw the arab spring transformed into an egyptian nightmare had the revolution to get rid of a tyrant dictator. in order to that we made elections and that evolution and elections to choose someone to the present us turned out that this guy is also a tyrant himself and these headlines may have been the stuff of imagination but let's see if twenty thirty i want them to live with

a car from our to moscow. and official break we'll take a look at the people who prepared for the calls make calamity that night what was the mayan apocalypse. the east be told language. will use programs and documentaries in arabic it's all here on all t.v. reporting from the world talks about six of the ip interviews intriguing story for you here. in troy the arabic to find out more visit arabic don't owe t.v. dot com. something. lies beneath.

thousands of meters of ice under a rock. the lab. that is a loon for many. but dangerous even to those who keep it at a distance. one

afternoon on the shores of the ocean blue. one of those days when it feels good to be alive on the planet earth. carefree humanity. maybe unthinking humanity even. a few kilometers away a man has given us an appointment on a mountain summit.